2/26/16

I
try to give you five Mets subjects to mull on each day, built around various
press articles that had come out in the past 24 hours. I then add my opinions
and I let you guys take it from there.

The
off-season is tough because there isn’t much happening and everybody seems to
be writing about the same subjects. These few weeks before spring training has
started are particularly painful, especially in a year like this when
everything coming out of the Mets clubhouse is in perfect harmony.

I’ve
never seen a Mets team more on the same page than this one.

Everybody
wants to play for this team. Everybody.

A
tip of the Mack’s hat to Joe D over at Metsmerized for securing pregame videos
from his new partner, The Sporting News. Joe is as old as I am doing this yet
he still seems to be coming up with ways of building his site and putting some
ching in his pocket. I wish I had his strength and will.

Noah Syndergaard threw live batting practice on Thursday
morning. Mets minor leaguers that were served up were Kyle
Johnson, Stefan Sabol, and Victor Cruzado. Terry Collins said
‘that ball is moving two feet. That’s pretty good shit.’ Pitching coach Dan Warthan said ‘that’s mid season… he has something
to prove… he wants to win a World Series’.

Mack – It’s always
great to get past the first live BP session. All you want to look for at this
stage of the game is no muscle pulls, strains, or, even worse.

(Rafael Montero and Steven Matz also threw live BP)

Ride
#4 for Yoenis Cespedes on Thursday was an Alfa
Romeo 8C Competizione which followed a tricked out Ford F-250, a Polaris
Slingshot, and a Lamborghini Aventador. I gotta think that Terry Collins would love have a few choice words about
this show boating, but frankly, it’s a breath of fresh air in a basically
boring spring training so far. I’m sure even Yo will run out of cars by the end
of the month.

Is
he done tomorrow? Well, here’s a Twitter post from Cespedes himself –

This is the time of the year that everybody seems to have their
own Top 10 Prospects list. So does Baseball Prospectus
who came out with the Mets list this week.

I found two things interesting –

1.They listed SS Luis Carpio as the #3 prospect in the
system –

Given the polished profile at
such a young age, and the organization he plays for, the obvious comp for
Carpio is Ruben Tejada. Admittedly it’s not that
sexy a look through a 2016 lens, but consider that Tejada has graded out as a
league-average player in four of his past five seasons in the majors by WARP,
despite never playing 120 games in a season. And even if Carpio doesn't reach
his power ceiling, he should still show more pop than Tejada. This is a
potential top-100 guy in a year, especially if he ends up in the South Atlantic
League as an 18-year-old and continues to hit. And there is no reason to think
he can't handle that tough assignment with the same aplomb he did 2015's.

Mack – Let’s review this one more time…

In my book, the Mets
have the following shortstop prospects:

Gavin Cecchini – 1st round/2012 – 21/yrs - .317/AA

Amed Rosario – $1.75mil bonus – 19/yrs - .257/A+

Luis Guillorme – 10th round/2013 – 20/yrs - .318/A

Yeffry De Aza – $475K bonus – 19/yrs - .313/GCL

Edgardo Fermin – $250K bonus – 17/yrs - .262/DSL

Hansel Moreno – $50K bonus – 18/yrs - .210/DSL

Gregory Guerrero – $1.5mil bonus – awaiting assignment

Andres Giminez – $1.2mil bonus – awaiting assignment

Kenny Hernandez – $1mil bonus – 16/yrs - .196/DSL

Yoel Romero - $300K bonus – 18/yrs - .194/DSL

The face of the
Mets shortstop could change many times in the next decade.

2.They listed the relatively
unknown OF Raphael Ramirez as someone to keep an eye on –

Raphael Ramirez, CF -
Signing Ramirez out of the 2014 draft class was a bit of a coup for Paul DePodesta and Tommy
Tanous. Expected to go to NC State, he instead signed with the Mets for
$150,000. Ramirez has some of the best athletic tools in the system, he is a
no-doubt center fielder and a true burner. Despite his small frame, he gets
better power than you'd think out of a pretty, rotational swing that calls to
mind a young Curtis Granderson (the high socks
help here as well). Now the reason he is here, rather than above. Ramirez
struggles with spin, and especially spin from the left side. He just hasn't
looked comfortable against left-handers so far in his professional career. The
clock is hardly ticking though, and he is only a bit of refinement away from
joining a couple of his Kingsport team on the top section of this page in 2017.

Mack – There’s no
room for Ramirez in Columbia this spring. On paper, Desmond Lindsay, Emmanuel Zabata, Vincente Lupo, Michael Bernal,
Hengelbert Rojas, and Tucker Tharp will all be fighting it out for
the five Firefly outfield slots.

12
comments:

Of course, that SS prospects list leaves out the two titans, Matt Reynolds and Danny Muno. Kidding aside, a true abundance of potential shortstops.

Thor will be great. If he wins the Cy in 2016, as Gooden did in 1985, I won't be surprised. I will be at his Hall of Fame induction in 2037...inching along with my walker and all, I am reserving my spot early.

Thor + The Warthan Slider = essentially unhittable. This may, in fact be his Doc Gooden year. Interesting takes on Carpio and Ramirez. There are a few low level position guys who could take a jump forward this year. If a couple of them do, the system might be back in the top ten in baseball range. None of those rankings, of course, include Herrera, who would be top three on any list.

When we were doing out top 50 list, Raphael Ramirez was pretty hotly debated, just like Champ Stuart the year before.

I will always be bearish on these great athletes who can't hit.

Mack, can you think of anyone who ever made the majors and made any sort of impact who put up a sub .600 OPS in their second season of pro ball? Anyone can struggle their first season. But if you're struggling in your second season, too, that's got to be a warning sign of some sort.

well, half those ss prospects will end up at 2b/3b so thats ok. just need 1 to pan out.

re nimmo in the post:

Brandon Nimmo, who has a partially torn tendon in his left foot, said he will need at least another two to three weeks of rehab before he can consider starting baseball activities. sustained the injury on Jan. 18.

“The nice part is [the injury] seems to be a lot less serious than we thought at first,” Nimmo said. “So I’m looking to just get this rehab process done this time and hopefully we’ll have a healthy season and not have to deal with it.”